The Pleasures of Belief

"Men do not forego the pleasures of the moment to
say good-bye to all joy for evermore--no, this self-control is a
training, so that we may reap the fruits of a larger joy in the time
to come. A man will toil day and night to make himself an orator, yet
oratory is not the one aim of his existence: his hope is to influence
men by his eloquence and thus achieve some noble end." Xenophon, Cyropaedia

There exists a fundamental template that acts as a foundation for all action. As a business professional, knowing that their is a source, that when adjusted, changes the actions that are taken is of immense value. One of the variables of this template is what we call beliefs. Beliefs are not tangible things that we can hold, yet they have the ability to create life, to extinguish it; and to spur any action ever conceived. Beliefs are what tells us what is possible.

Most, if not all, businesses sell a vision of what is possible. They sell this vision to clients, employees, shareholders, communities, etc. If we connect the dots here we can see the correlation between beliefs and vision. What would happen if we don't believe in our vision? Would we be able to sell it? Well, not really. If beliefs tell us what is possible, and to sell we must believe the vision is possible, then businesses will not survive, much less thrive if belief is ignored. Frequently, what we call "unmotivated," "underachieving," or even "poor" employees are actually simply suffering from a lack of belief. Either of themselves, their company, their product/service, and usually a combination of some of these factors.

Beliefs are created by having experiences that tell us that something is possible. We need to experience a sense of certainty that if such and such is done, then x will be the result. If we have enough references that meet that criteria, then we effectively establish a belief. The majority of our beliefs are adopted from others, and built around our personal experiences.

With that in mind it becomes vital that we adopt beliefs from those individuals which we admire, or wish to model. It is also important to seek experiences which will help build and reinforce empowering ones. At the end of the day beliefs are under our control, and must be managed effectively to open the doors to the possibilities we seek to realize.

Interestingly enough we can read into someone's beliefs by their actions. We can tell if someone has a high self esteem or a low self esteem, simply by observing their actions. A person who believes that something grand is possible will forego immediate pleasures for future ones. Think about it. To say no to immediate pleasures requires a belief that the future rewards will outweigh the current offering. Those who don't believe they can have something better or do something better will try to get the quick fix.

Those who engage in discipline, even though to some it may seem like self-denial, are actually investing in future pleasure. These disciplined individuals have strong beliefs about what they want (vision) and have no doubt they will manifest, thus they more often than not produce the intended result. Management at all levels from self to business requires a continuous refinement and inspection of the beliefs structure to ensure that they are consciously driven to exceed expectations.

Angel Armendariz

How To Be Better Than Yesterday

"He only is a well-made man who has a good determination. And the end of culture is not to destroy this, God forbid! but to train away all impediment and mixture and leave nothing but pure power." - Ralph Waldo Emerson


Do you believe it's possible to be 1% better today than you were yesterday? Think about it. What would it mean to be 1% better? You might say sure, of course! Or you might believe its not possible. Suspend judgment for now, simply consider the possibility and what it would mean.

To be better by 1% is not a literal concept I employ here, but more of a practical theme. The essence of "being better" would mean that if I am at least 1% more effective today than I was yesterday, then the challenges I faced yesterday will seem easier today. For example, if yesterday I was flustered and overwhelmed by client demands and objections to my product or service, then today I will be less so. Essentially my task becomes easier because I have become greater. Compounded over a period of days, weeks, and months you can imagine how powerful this principle can be.

Additionally, to be 1% better would mean that you can now extend yourself and take on greater challenges or aim at loftier ambitions. Because, we are better today than yesterday we naturally will want to be challenged, and will have an affinity to take on greater projects. The effects of the 1% better creed would create a "steady state" (to borrow a term from biology) were we would teeter between be overly powerful at handling yesterdays task, and not yet fully competent at dealing with the increasing demands of our evolving goals. This 'growth tension' is the optimal path which professionals should seek to continually create value for themselves and their respective endeavors.

The 1% creed can and should become part of your daily due diligence. Some of the ways to guarantee investment into your 1% daily growth are as follows:

- improve your vocabulary
- improve the sound of your voice
- improve your ability to articulate what you think and feel
- focus on listening to how people say things, not just the content
- learn to read a new, previously ignored, non-verbal communication from people
- learn about properly managing a certain emotion
- learn 2 new questions that can help close a sale
- learn how to play a different interpersonal role
- make 1 new friend and learn something interesting about them
- learn to 1 new way to harmonize your body
- eat a healthy meal instead of a your usual non-healthy one
- do something that frightens you, but that you know is worth the effort
- give more of yourself to others
- learn 1 new thing about your profession
- learn 1 new thing about self-management...

This list can go on forever, but you get the point. Everyday you can even break it down to getting a 1% fix for your body, mind, and profession. Before retiring for the day ensure that the 1% marks are hit. The principle is so subtle, yet so powerful that it could ultimately be the biggest difference in success or failure. Think about the cost of not becoming better. If we don't become better, by default we become worse. In biology and science they call it entropy. A system that does not absorb new information will only lose information and decay into inert energy-less matter. What makes us different than a mere inanimate system is that we have a choice. The choices are 1) gather new information and grow; or 2) lose information and decay.

Angel Armendariz

What Do You Want? How Bad Do You Want It? & How Are You Going To Get It?

To create a meaningful and engaging film or play the following questions must be easily answered by the protagonist - what does he/she want, how bad do they want it, and how are they going to get it. The plot then centers on overcoming the obstacles and challenges faced toward reaching the desired goal. Of course the higher the intensity of the protagonists want, the more powerful and convincing the actor will be. And the more challenges faced and overcome the more appealing the storyline.

The actors role is not that much different than real life. Our decisions to want something, and to want it badly ultimately dictates the roles and strategies we play in order to achieve them. Invariably life throws a continual series of roadblocks, challenges, and numerous obstacles on our path to our desires fulfillment. It seems as if a form of Murphy's law is continually in effect to obstruct the intended end result.

Any goal worth achieving will have countless resistances to overcome. That is a given. The most critical part of the whole scheme of things is the answer to the question: How bad do you want it? The more intensity you can associate toward your desired outcome the easier it will be to muster the will necessary to overcome the impending obstacles surrounding your goal. If you can't say with 100% conviction that you will do absolutely anything, that you will sacrifice anything to achieve your goal, then all obstacles encountered along your life path will scare you to death and leave you helpless and crippled; usually leading to acceptance of conformity and complacency.

The bottom line is this - to be taken seriously, to have the best chance of success, and be believable you must be convinced you can have what you want, and have an internal intensity that shows through your actions. Someone who actively is doing something to accomplish a goal is more believable and more certain of success than someone who only wishes or postpones. Lack of action means lack of belief in yourself.

7 Answers To a Highly Effective Question

"What is the one activity that you know if you did superbly well and consistently would have significant positive results in your personal, professional, or work life?"

7 Common Answers:
- Improving communication with people
- Better preparation
- Better planning and organizing
- Taking better care of self
- Seizing new opportunities
- Personal development
- Empowerment

That is a question Stephen R. Covey, author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People asks at his seminars. What a powerful question. The usual responses are fascinating; how many of you would answer in a similar manner?

If you think about the most valuable resource you can have; it would almost certainly be "improved communication with people" (sales ability). Want improved relationships? How about more friends? I know, we all want more money. Some parents might want a resource to help with their kids. There are also some of us who are depressed. Some of us lack motivation. A group of us just doesn't believe in ourselves....Do any of these sound like you?

If so, then you must agree that improved communication would be the one ability you would like to do superbly well and consistently, to have a significant positive impact in your life. With all the power promised by communication...you would think that we would all be flocking to resources via books, training, coaching, etc.
Do you?

It amazes me that with all the value in communication we are so atrophied in that arena. A colleague of mine once commented, "Angel serenades his clients over the phone with his voice..." I took this as a complement, however; I couldn't say the same thing for him. Truth be told, I have worked on my voice...and I still do. If how well I live my life has to do with how I communicate with people then I'll definitely work the probabilities in my favor and work on all channels of communication consistently.

Now here's something few people ever think about. You communicate with yourself all day long. You talk to yourself, you convince yourself, you insult, provoke, congratulate, sell,... You are both the buyer and the seller. You try to sell yourself on working out, or the new diet, or taking care of important things. How good are you at selling yourself? Unfortunately, I've met few individuals who are aware, much less competent, at being able to make themselves do the things that they "know" they should do. Why is that? Again, because we have not consistently worked on our communication and selling skills. We don't know how to sell ourselves on anything...thus we are sold anything being peddled in our environment.
As you can see...I'm passionate about communication and its effect on every aspect of our lives.

-Angel Armendariz

Communication Universe - Are there Absolute Laws?

"Desire is possibility seeking expression, or function seeking performance."
- Wallace D. Wattles

In quantum physics scientists are in a race to find the "absolute" laws of existence. The presupposition is that "absolute" laws actually exist. We generally assume that there have to be absolute laws or ultimate truth. But, why do we think that? Maybe its a desire for a sense of certainty of some permanence to our lives. Nonetheless

I now ask the same question of Communication. In the broad category of Communication lets include all interpersonal forms of communication. Sales, marketing, casual persuasion, pick up strategies, essays, and public speaking. Would we be able to assume that these communication modes abide by "absolute" or "universal" laws? We would of course use something more fundamental to communication to describe this underlying template we suspect. Principles, are generally the equivalent to the quantum physicists "absolute" laws.

Acting is Sales?

Lets look at some principles. We'll first venture into Acting. Acting is all about communication...
James R. Alburger, acting and voice-over coach, gives this as the recipe for Selling the audience:

-Interrupt
-Engage
-educate
-offer

James, gives his students those for "principles" for capturing listeners attention. Hmmm...If i didn't know any better I'd say that those principles look eerily familiar to a sales pitch process. Or even a marketing pitch. Lets look at a famous sales pitch process. This is Neil Rackhams's Spin Selling formula:

-Situation
-Problem
-Implications
-Needs-Payoff

Courtship Ritual

Interesting...Could this apply online? Maria Veloso, a web copyrighting master, says yes. In Mitch Meyerson's book, Success Secrets of The Online Marketing Superstars, Maria Veloso describes a sales script meticulously made to move in the same linear format as the two examples above. She obviously gets the fact that the process is not about a "quickie"...she describes it quite intimately however, courtship like -"Seducing your Web visitor is like a dance, wherein you lead and they follow. You make a move, they respond accordingly, you take another step and they follow your lead in a seamless relay that ultimately leads to the sale." How's that for using the courtship analogy...

-Angel Armendariz